Afro Eurasian Studies Journal Vol 3. Issue 1, Spring 2014 Understanding French Foreign and Security Policy towards Africa: Pragmatism or Altruism Abdurrahim Sıradağ1 Abstract France has deep economic, political and historical relations with Africa, dating back to the 17th century. Since the independence of the former colonial countries in Africa in the 1950s and 1960s, France has continued to maintain its economic and political relations with its former colonies. Importantly, France has a special strategic security partnership with the African countries. It has intervened militarily in Africa more than 50 times since 1960. France has especially continued to use its military power to strengthen its economic, political and strategic relations with Africa. For instance, it deployed its military troops in Mali in January 2013 and in the Central African Republic in December 2013. Why does France actively get involved in Africa militarily? This research will particularly uncover the main motivations behind the French foreign and security policy in Africa. Key words: Francophone Africa, France, Foreign Policy, Africa, economic interests. The Role of France in World Politics France’s international power and position has shaped its foreign and security policy towards Africa. France has been an important actor with its political and economic power in Europe and in the world. It was one of the six important founding members of the European Community after 1 International University of Sarajevo, Department of International Relations, Ilidža, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Email: [email protected] 100 the Second World War and plays a leading role in European integration. France plays a significant role in world politics through international or- ganizations. For instance, it is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and NATO, the G-8, and the G-20. It is the fifth biggest economic power in the world (World Bank, 2011) and the second largest economic power in Europe (IMF, 2012). France is among the countries which make the highest military expenditure in the world. For instance, it was the fifth worldwide when it spent $62.5 billion in 2011 for strengthen- ing its military power (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2011). At the same time, France is the largest military power in the EU and third largest military force in NATO (University of Princeton, 2013). It possesses nuclear weapon (Federation of American Scientist, 2012) and is a founding member of the United Nations. French Colonial Policy in Africa France has maintained a realist foreign policy towards Africa since colonial history. According to realist theory of International relations (IR), states shape their foreign policies according to their own national interests. French interest in Africa began in the 17th century with the establishment of a trade port on the West African coast at St. Louis (present day Sen- egal) (Klein, 1998:22). Importantly, the former European colonial powers, including France, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Belgium, signed the Berlin Act of 1884-85 to divide Africa and to protect their common economic and political interests at the Berlin Conference. The Berlin Conference of 1884-5 was a major historical turning point for the beginning of European colonial history and new imperialism in Africa. The colonial powers justified their brutal colonialism in Africa with the Berlin Conference. The main characteristic feature of the French colonial policy was to exploit the rich resources of Africa (Iliffe, 2007:195). Francophone African states consisted of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ni- ger, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin), Gabon, Mid- dle Congo (now Republic of Congo), French Cameroon, Oubangi-Chari (now Central African Republic), Chad, French Somaliland, Comoros and Madagascar (Ibid.). France established two important federations in Af- 101 rica to strengthen its colonies, namely French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa. The former became a federation of the French colonial empire in 1895. It consisted of Dahomey (now Benin), French Guinea (now Guinea), French Sudan (now Mali), Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). The first federal governmet was established in Senegal in 1904. The later was establihed as a second federation of France in 1910 and included Chad, Gabon, Cameroon, the Congo, and the Central African Republic. In 1960, both federations col- lapsed after the independence of African states (Manning, 2004:75-6). It is important to note that France had a different colonial policy in Africa from that of England. While England had a colonial policy in Africa based on economic exploitation of Africa and the protection of the interests of the British settlers, France developed a cultural and political assimilation policy towards its colonial countries in Africa. The main goals of the French assimilation policy in Africa were to exploit Africa and to increase France’s international prestige. The assimilation policy of France in Africa did not respect African culture and traditions. It banned African languages, culture, and identity. Importantly, While the British saw its col- onies as foreign lands, the French saw them as a part of France, therefore France imposed its culture on Africa (Fenwick, 2009:2-5). Figure 1: The Colonial Map Source: http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m9/activity4.php 102 France established its own economic and political system in Africa to colonize it. While French colonial policy in Africa played a significant role in developing the economic interests of France, it devastated the eco- nomic development of African states. France forced its colonies to make trade with Paris, not with each other (Iverson, 2007:16-17). While the French colonies were forced to import goods from France expensively, they were also obliged to export their products to France cheaply. This system created an unfair economic relationship between the French colonies and France, and particularly increased interdependence between France and its colonies (Hrituleac, 2011:36). Martin argues that France’s African policy was based on racism and inequality during the period of colonialism. The French leaders played a significant role in dividing Africa. He claims that France successfully implemented a policy of “balkanization” in Africa through the creation of African federation systems (Martin, 1985:190-1). During the colonial history, the policy of “divide and rule” was implemented by the former European colonial states. For instance, France divided Africa as “Franco- phone”; England partitioned it as “Anglophone”; Portugal split it as “lu- sophone”. While England ruled and colonized Africa with its policy of indirect rule implemented by local chiefs and tribal leaders, France ruled from the metropole in a policy of direct rule. France preferred a centralized policy to colonize Africa, and thus French colonial policy towards Africa was more destructive, more brutal and less tolerant of African culture and traditions. In particular, French military power played the most important role in colonizing Africa (Fenwick, 2009:2-5). France remained one of the most significant colonial powers in Africa until its colonies gained their independence by the 1960s. France’s Relations with Africa during the Cold War Era In the aftermath of the Second World War, the period of the Cold War began. New international and regional organizations were established by the global powers, such as the United Nations (UN), the Warsaw Pact Organization, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). More importantly, a bipolar global system based on the hegemonic power of the 103 USA and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) emerged. After the Second World War, the decolonization process of Africa actively began and by 1960 the majority of the African states gained their independence from France. France developed new polices and strategies in accordance with the global developments so as to keep and strengthen its economic and political interests in its Francophone African territories. France maintained its relations with Africa through “cooperation agreements”, “military interventions”, and “financial assistance policies” during the Cold War era. According to Martin, the strategy of cooperation with African states had been employed by France as a continuation of its colonial policy (Martin, 1985:191). France’s foreign policy in Africa based on economic and political interests remained unchanged after the African states gained their independence. The first president of the Fifth French Republic, General Charles de Gaulle,1 played a major role in the birth of the concept of “France-Afrique,” which explains the continuing strong relations between France and its former colonies in Africa. Even though the French former colonies had gained their independence by 1960, France continued to retain control over strategic areas in Africa, such as economic, monetary, strategic mineral policy, defense and security, and foreign affairs (Martin, 2000:3). In 1939 France established its monetary system known as a franc zone to expand its economic and political influence over her then colonial coun- tries in Africa. The CFA franc stands for two different currencies, the West African CFA franc and the Central African CFA franc. Both currencies now have a fixed exchange rate with the Euro,